丁稚でっち奉ぼう公こう

noun, noun or participle which takes 'suru', intransitive verb

apprenticeship (historical); live-in apprenticeship

Refers to the traditional Japanese practice where a young person, often a child, lived and worked in a merchant or artisan household to learn a trade. Now a historical term; modern equivalents use 弟子入り or 見習い.

• 江え戸ど時じ代だいには、多おおくの商しょう家かで丁稚でっち奉公ぼうこうが行おこなわれていた。

  During the Edo period, many merchant houses practiced live-in apprenticeship.